Four Lions

Synopsis

On millennium eve, five jihadis planned to ram a western naval vessel with a launch full of bombs. In the dead of night they slipped their boat into the water. They stacked it with explosives. They stepped in. It sank.
In real life, the close up business of terrorism can be shot through with farce.
Cells are driven by the same group dynamics as football teams and stag parties.
Four Lions is based on three years of meetings with imams, community leaders, moderates, radicals, police, security services, ex mujahideen and a wealth of surveillance material from major trials.
It plunges us beyond the headlines into a cell of authentically daft 'self-start' British jihadis.
Bristling with verbal jousting and large scale set pieces, their story spirals into a farce of certainties, confusions, errors and bombs. Outlandish but authentic, Four Lions understands its characters as human but knows that humans are innately ridiculous.

Details

Year

2010

Type of film

Features

Director

Chris Morris

Producer

Carole Baraton, Peter Carlton, Will Clarke, Caroline Leddy, Angus Aynsley, Mark Findlay

Editor

Billy Sneddon

Screenwriter

Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain

Director of Photography

Lol Crawley

Production Designer

Dick Lunn

Sound

Malcolm Hirst

Principal Cast

Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Arsher Ali, Adeel Akhtar

Additional writing

Simon Blackwell

Genre

• Comedy

Production status

Complete

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Last updated 5th January 2010